No bike riding for a while…

That’s my left shoulder area from yesterday afternoon. I’ve got, what is known in the trade as a “fractured glenoid” – a broken scapula (shoulder blade) caused when I fell off my bike while riding home from work. The shoulder itself is also dislocated. When I was falling, I threw my arm out. I also had the casual thought that I probably should NOT have gone down that way, but when this sort of thing happens, it’s not as if you consciously think, “tuck and roll,” if you know what I mean.

So, I was rescued by a couple of guys named Ernest and Carlos (father and son), who got me off the road, pulled my cell phone out and called the DH, and stayed with me until he showed up. Probably a half dozen other people stopped, inquired, or raced over to lend assistance. To everyone out there – my humble thanks especially to Carlos who held onto me while I was retching from the pain. I got lucky in the ER – mid afternoon on Friday is not so busy that I could not get seen right away.

Weirdest things about the ER:
The first question they asked me was not “Where does it hurt?” It was “Were you wearing a helmet?”
I was wearing my Rx sunglasses when I went in – they did not take them off until they sedated me
(and I mean “totally knocked me out”) to put my dislocated shoulder back in (which for some reason is referred to as a “reduction”). I must have looked very odd in my spandex shorts, bike shoes and sunglasses. Considering the amount of begging for painkillers I was doing, I do not think Lance Armstrong is going to be asking me to join LiveStrong any time soon.
The other thing is that I was apologizing constantly. I have no idea why.

I’ll be seeing the orthopedist on Monday. In the meantime, I’m discovering all the things I can’t do now because I don’t have the use of both hands.

Refuah shleimah, Dodah Tovah. You never know all the things for which you use a body part until you can’t use said body part. (And, of COURSE they asked if you were wearing a helmet: treating a concussion — or worse — is far more vital than the shoulder. But you knew that.)